Buy To Open

What is 'Buy To Open'

Buy to open is a term used by brokerages to represent the opening of a long call or put position in option transactions. A "buy to open" order has a distinguishing characteristic where the option position is not held short in the account during the transaction. The "sell to close" order is used to exit a position taken with a "buy to open" order.

BREAKING DOWN 'Buy To Open'

The buy and sell terminology for options trading is not as straightforward as it is for stock trading. Instead of simply placing a "buy" or "sell" order as they would for stocks, options traders must choose among "buy to open," "buy to close," "sell to open" and "sell to close."

Buy to open applies to stocks as well. When an investor decides to establish a new position in a particular stock, the first buy transaction is considered buy to open because it opens the position. By opening the position, the stock is being established as a holding in the portfolio. The position remains open until it is closed out by selling all of the stocks. This is known as selling to close because it closes the position. Selling a partial position means that some, but not all, stocks have been sold. A position is considered closed when no more of a particular stock, or exposure to it, remain in a portfolio.

Buy to Close

Buy to close orders also come into play is when covering a short-sell position. A short-sell position borrows the shares through the broker and is closed out by buying back the shares in the open market. The last transaction to completely close out the position is known as the buy to close order. This removes the exposure completely. The intent is to buy back the shares at a lower price to generate a profit from the difference of the short-sell price and the buy to close price.

In some cases, where the share price moves higher, the trader may have to buy to close at a loss to prevent even greater losses from occurring. In the worst case scenarios, the broker may execute a forced liquidation due to a margin call -- a broker's demand that an investor place money in his margin account due to a short fall -- which would generate a buy to cover order to close out the position at a magnified loss due to insufficient account equity.